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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29083266">The Danger Of Frog Catching</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_claw7/pseuds/blue_claw7'>blue_claw7</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/simoneleona/pseuds/simoneleona'>simoneleona</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drowning, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, POV Elyan (Merlin), POV Gwen (Merlin), Pre-Canon, Protective Siblings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:07:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,366</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29083266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_claw7/pseuds/blue_claw7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/simoneleona/pseuds/simoneleona</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Elyan heard of the frog catching adventures of his friend, he immediately wanted to do so himself. It is nothing new that Gwen is busy when Elyan wants to do something. </p><p>It is also nothing new that Gwen worries excessively about her brother, because  Elyan wouldn’t be Elyan if he’d just listen to her, instead of deciding to go anyway.</p><p>In the end, Gwen hates to be right.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elyan &amp; Gwen (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Gwen Fest, Merlin Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Danger Of Frog Catching</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <strong>TW: Drowning (not graphically described)</strong>
</p><p>Written by blueclaw_7 and simoneleona for the Merlin Bingo. It was a joy for us to write, hope you like it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I want to catch frogs!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen momentarily stopped, putting the old tunic she was repairing down on her knees. Elyan had just bolted in, sweat still shining on his face from playing with other kids. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elyan,” Gwen tried to call her brother. Elyan was running around the house she had finished tidying just that day, searching for something and undoing all of her work as he flipped the stuff over. He finally settled on digging through a chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on Gwen,” Elyan said as if she hadn’t said anything at all, pulling an old net that belonged to their father and was repaired many times out of the chest. “Kay said there are many frogs at the lake, we should catch them before others do!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to give this tunic to father today.” Elyan stopped and looked at the pile of clothes around her for the first time. Her workload had grown significantly after their mother’s passing. Father’s work at the forge was very time consuming already and as much as he and Elyan helped, it mostly fell on Gwen to do her work. Their mother’s absence felt heavier in those moments as her heart ached with remembrance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It looks done to me,” Elyan said looking at her with hope. Gwen hated making him sad, but the list of chores in her head was still not finished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Father needs it today so I’ll have to go to the forge, then I’ll have to go to the market for-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I get it,” Elyan broke in, pouting a little looking at the net. After eyeing him for a few moments, Gwen turned back to the tunic to finish the last few stitches, still keeping an eye on her brother who was taking it very mature so far. She was proven right to do that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her head snapped seeing Elyan trying to hook the net over his shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?” Elyan turned to her with a baffled expression, net covering half of his face, looking like a caught fish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going frog catching?” Gwen could almost picture him in the woods alone, running around and getting himself hurt. The net he ridiculously tried to carry was not helping</span>
  <em>
    <span> at all</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are not going alone,” she said with a surge of protectiveness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re only two years older than me,” Elyan huffed, with a very well known ‘you cannot tell me what to do’ voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And that makes me older than you.” He looked at her annoyed and Gwen met his eyes. It was a brief war of staring, their stubbornness crashing with each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Elyan sighed, trying to get himself out of the net he put himself in. Gwen couldn’t help a smile, coming out victorious. With Elyan’s frustrated noise gaping like a fish, she got up and saved him from the net. His eyes were still lingering on the net as Gwen folded and threw it back in the chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to go now,” she said, hurriedly returning and retrieving the tunic along with a small bag of coins. “There is some food over there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan’s eyes snapped to where she waved, clearly hungry after playing. As he ran over the table and grabbed the bread, a gut feeling was telling her not to go. Gwen ignored it, sharing a smile with Elyan as she stood over the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gut feeling grew stronger after she stepped outside, into the busy streets of Camelot. She glanced back at the closed door, but the coin purse felt heavier and the tunic in her hands reminded the things she had to take care of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen blended in the crowd, not turning back for a second time.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Elyan, of course, didn’t listen to his sister. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was a stubborn kid, when he had his mind on something he wouldn’t let go. That’s why he had grabbed his net and ran towards the lake as soon as Gwen had left the room, hoping she wouldn’t be angry when she saw how many frogs he had caught. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Elyan arrived, his knees were hurting and he was breathing heavily. The net was his father’s and it was too long for a little boy to be running with it, so he tripped several times. Thankfully he was wearing his old trousers. Gwen would be furious if he had ruined the new pants she sowed him. As he sat down on the sand he noticed the rip in his sleeve. That might actually be a problem, he thought. Gwen had just fixed it the other day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While catching his breath, he was listening closely. A few birds were chirping happily and he could hear something moving around in the bushes. Probably a rabbit, he thought. Usually he’d catch the rabbit, since it would make a fine dinner, but now his mind was set on something different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he heard a frog croaking on his left, and another one in front of him. So Kay wasn’t lying after all, there really were a lot of frogs here. He had been afraid there wouldn’t be any left, but it seemed like there were plenty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kay had been fishing for frogs the other day with his elder brother. They had really caught a lot of them! Kay told him he could hold one, but as soon as Elyan tried to grab it, it quickly jumped away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay.” Kay had laughed. “We have more than enough. We can miss one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enough?” Elyan asked. “Enough for what?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The stew of course!” Kay exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Frogs can be eaten. Did you really not know that? Mum’s going to make them all into a delicious meal.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan couldn’t help but feel shocked at that. Frogs? For dinner? Those poor frogs. He felt glad that he had saved at least one. Frogs had always been his favourite animals, ever since he went frog catching with his mother as a little boy. He hadn’t done it since she passed away, but looking at Kay's frogs he really wanted to. He had hoped Gwen would take him. It would be just the same as when he did it with his mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead he was sitting on the shore, alone, listening for the frogs to make a sound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as he heard another frog croaking he jumped up with renewed energy. His excitement grew as he saw one jumping around very close to him. It didn’t take long for Elyan to catch it. It seemed to be an old frog, or at least that’s what he thought, since it was very big and very slow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a struggling frog in his net, he looked around. What was his plan again? He had caught one, but where was it supposed to go now? It took him a moment to realize that he totally forgot to bring a bucket with him. How could he have forgotten? It was the second most important thing!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was just putting down his net when he noticed a few branches lying around at the edge of the forest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay,” he whispered to the frog.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remembering what Gwen taught him about making baskets out of twigs, he walked to the edge of the forest, gathering as many twigs as he could find.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a long time of struggling he finally had a sufficient frog cage. It wasn’t exactly as beautiful as the baskets Gwen had made, but it would just have to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Walking back to the net he noticed that the frog was long gone. That’s okay, I’ll just catch him again, he thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With renewed energy and motivation he returned to his mission.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Gwen’s eyes wandered over the children loudly playing on her way back to home. The streets of Camelot were never empty, shouts of the street sellers mixing with the children’s. Gwen clung to the small bag she carried, another hand on the bag of coins -even if it was half empty now-. The streets were flooding with people as usual, yet no matter how many corners her eyes searched, Elyan was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was just at home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A knot tied in her stomach when she came across Kay and his friends playing, but Elyan was not among them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kay!” Kay turned to her with a frown and all the kids stopped playing. Elyan was going to get all </span>
  <em>
    <span>annoying</span>
  </em>
  <span> if he learnt she searched his friends like a fretting mother-hen. “Have you seen Elyan?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, haven’t seen him since he went home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where did you catch the frogs?” Kay stopped, looking at her wide-eyed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“By the lake, the one outside of the citadel, near the woods. Did I do something wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, just curious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Kay’s shoulders dropped with relief. “He was looking forward to going with you, he’ll be very happy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Gwen said with a flash of guilt. Elyan had been really excited and she had brushed it aside, hadn’t she? Gwen turned and quickened her pace. She just managed to not crash into a man carrying a basket on his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan was completely, utterly fine. He is probably at home, Gwen thought trying to calm herself down. The streets were crowded anyways and Elyan was friends with everyone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her breath quickened as her pace sped up. Elyan is fine, Gwen said to herself over and over again. She was being too protective, feeling as if Elyan was her responsibility as his older sister but Elyan could take care of himself. She was just fussing over for no reason at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Relief flooded through her when she saw her home. The door opened with a creak in no time. An empty house welcomed her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alright, so Elyan was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> at home, but that didn’t mean he was in trouble. The loaf of bread which used to be on the table was nowhere to be seen, so at least he wasn’t hungry. Her eyes stopped on the sluggishly closed chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wouldn’t run all alone into the woods, near a lake when he didn’t know how to swim, would he? He wouldn’t try to catch frogs with a net he barely managed to carry, would he? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thoughts racing in her head and heart beating fast, Gwen opened the chest. She dug through it, throwing stuff out till she was face to face with the wooden base.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alright, so Elyan </span>
  <em>
    <span>hadn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> listened to her and wandered off into the woods all alone. It was fine, Elyan could take care of himself. Gwen could imagine Elyan’s glare if he learnt she ran to father and made a big fuss over it. And she’d worry their busy father for no reason at all because Elyan was fine. It wasn’t his first time catching frogs. Gwen hadn’t liked jumping around and scaring the poor creatures when she was smaller, whereas Elyan had done it before many times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But mother had been with him when he was younger. Now he was alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...Just a little check on him wouldn’t hurt anyone.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p><span>It didn’t take him long before Elyan had captured about a dozen frogs. By now it got harder and harder. There weren’t as many frogs as he had hoped. Although he did hear some more jumping and croaking in the distance, but none were close enough to where he was currently sitting in the sand. Kay should have left more frogs for the rest, Elyan thought.</span> <span>He had never been great at sharing. </span></p><p>
  <span>Elyan was just about to give up and return to Camelot when he heard a frog a little further away from the shore, but closer than the others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just one more, he thought. Then I’ll go back and show the frogs to Gwen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He picked up his net and walked back towards the water. Using all the strength in his small upper body, he reached with his net in the direction of the noise. He got so close, but just barely missed, bringing his presence to the frog’s attention, causing it to hastily jump away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Walking a little further, he tried to catch it again, but the net didn’t even come close. Once again the frog jumped farther away, out of Elyan’s reach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Starting to feel like it was an impossible mission and not wanting to make his shirt even dirtier, he turned around to walk back to the shore, when the frog croaked again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan turned back towards the noise and saw the frog sitting there, staring at him. As if he was challenging him to try again, daring him to do it. He decided to not give in and turn around anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The frog didn’t seem to agree with that decision, since he chose that moment to make another noise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This, Elyan couldn’t ignore. “Okay, the game is on,” he whispered under his breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Feeling courageous he put another step forward, but when he tried to put his foot in the sand he slipped and fell forward where the water quickly became deeper and deeper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before he knew it his mouth filled with water, and darkness surrounded him. Barely aware of what was happening he kicked as much as he could and waved his arms around hoping to somehow reach the surface, but his legs soon grew tired and started to lose their strength. He felt water burning in his lungs, all his muscles were screaming in agony and his eyes started to drift close. Still he kept desperately kicking his feet, slowly starting to move upwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reaching the surface he was just able to loudly scream out “GWEN!!” before his eyes fell shut and the water pulled him down.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>It was quiet in the woods. Twigs snapped beneath Gwen’s feet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Disturbingly quiet if one would dare say, with only hushes of the trees and frantic croaks of the frogs. Gwen was left breathless by the time she came to an opening where the trees lessened. A frog -one that possibly had managed to escape from Elyan- hopped next to her, racing away from the lake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Elyan?” Gwen called out hopefully. The Elyan she knew wouldn’t let a frog challenge and escape him, so he must have been- Gwen’s thoughts were interrupted by a hoarse scream sounding like her name echoing through the woods.  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Elyan</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elyan!” Gwen ran, screaming. “ELYAN!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She passed by his net and a few frogs around, not stopping for a moment. Her eyes raced over the coast. A few rocks, bushes, more trees, waves, nothing, no Elyan. An urge to cry hit her as she couldn’t see her brother, but his scream was still ringing in her ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Gwen spotted Elyan’s head barely above the water, just before there was no longer sight of him. He was drowning. Not a moment to lose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen threw herself in the water, the level immediately coming to her waist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elyan!” She desperately called again. She waded through the muddy water, getting to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A kick knocked the breath out of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan was thrashing, unconsciously trying to save himself but making it harder to reach out for him. Gwen got behind her brother. She grabbed him under his arms. With all her strength, Gwen pulled him above the water. She splashed back, this time her head barely above the water as Elyan’s head laid on her shoulder. His breath was hoarse and cold on her neck, but a confirmation that she hadn’t been late. With a cough, and another cough, Elyan bent, body going tense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here, I’m here” Gwen murmured, hugging him tighter. It was agonizingly slow to get to the shore. Her feet were lifting off of the bottom if she acted quickly and made a wave. The cold water was making her shiver and the unstable lake bottom beneath wasn’t making it easy to go backwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Elyan coughed on her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m here,” Gwen murmured again, going faster. He had started to shiver between her arms. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to him, wasn’t going to lose him like </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The shore was near, she could feel it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her feet hit something like a step and Gwen turned back. She was nearly at the shore. Gathering her last ounce of strength, Gwen pulled Elyan and herself out of the water. The safe, solid shore... Water dripping from both of them, Elyan coughing, no, choking and shivering… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not knowing what to do, she laid him on his side. Gwen kneeled next to him, watching the movement of his chest closely. Elyan’s cough grew stronger. She helped him up, putting a hand on his back as he bent coughing, again. After a shaky breath and a hundred years for her, Elyan looked at her puzzled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gwen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, of course I am. You’ll be fine.” Elyan’s shoulders fell and Gwen was there to hug him. He was still shivering, even more so now, both from the shock and the cold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are soaked,” Elyan said, sniffling. </span>
  <em>
    <span>And you were almost dead</span>
  </em>
  <span>, came to the tip of her tongue but Gwen swallowed it down. She tightened her arms around him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So are you. We will rest a bit then…” Gwen looked at the citadel’s direction. She couldn’t leave Elyan here alone to get help nor could she carry him that far.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay,” Elyan said faintly. “We’ll go.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence. Gwen was holding her breath, feeling the comforting pressure of the regular movements of his chest on her side. A soft wind was blowing. She slightly shifted, shielding him. The world was calm around them, like those moments not so long ago hadn’t happened at all. If she had been late… But Gwen hadn’t been. And she wouldn’t, as long as there was breath in her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A frog croaked. Elyan raised his head from her chest, looking at the empty basket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah,” he pouted. “There were so many.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll catch more,” Gwen immediately reassured. Elyan backed away, looking at her mouth slightly open. That was when Gwen realized what she had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I mean, I, uh, I would understand if you wouldn’t want to- or come near any lake after </span>
  <em>
    <span>that-</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Elyan cut in. “No. Please. I still want to. Together.” Gwen hugged herself, still in the shock of coming so close to losing her brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps we shouldn’t do it alone. And it would be a good idea to learn how to swim.” Elyan averted his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Father’s busy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t thinking about him,” Gwen said, Elyan’s curious eyes on her. “Do you remember Leon?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That stuck up boy who mumbled knight code and studied every day?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He isn’t like that! And what’s wrong with him studying?” Gwen tied her arms. “Everyone has to study.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to work every day like father. I want to travel, go on adventures.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, if we want to go on </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> adventure, it’d be good to have him with us. He is a squire now and I bet he knows all kinds of things because he studies.” Elyan rolled her eyes. “I know it’s been a lot since we talked with him but if we ask, I’m sure he’ll help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leon was the only one that came to her mind to ask for help. Even if he had been a little quiet as Gwen remembered him, he had grown up like all of them. Leon was a good person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And he’ll loosen up a little,” Elyan said, after a long consideration. Gwen laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hopefully he’ll tighten </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> up a little.” It didn’t make the intended reaction. Elyan didn’t laugh, keeping his eyes on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” His small voice and the way he kept his head down broke her heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m sorry for saying no,” she said, filled with regret. “I know things... </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> haven’t been the same-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’d be proud of you.” Gwen stopped, looking at the sincerity in Elyan’s eyes. Words knotted in her throat, her mother’s face came before her eyes like a hazy dream. A smile formed on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen extended a hand to her brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, let’s go home.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Kudos and comments are appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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